Drinking-fountain.



A. E. KENNEY.

DRINKING POUNTAN.

APPLICATION FILED 11113.29, 1911.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

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THE MORRIS PETERS C0., PHOTOVLITHG.. WASH/NL, mN D C.

ANDREW E. KENNEY, 0F NORTH PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

DRINKING-FOUNTAIN.

Mareas.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 9, ll.

Application filed March 29, 1911. Serial No. 617,556.

T0 all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW E. KENNEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of North Plainfield, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in DLinking-Fountains, of which the following is a specification.

Drinking fountains have been proposed heretofore and some of them have been used to a certain extent, but these have all been more or less unsanitary and unsatisfactory on account of the fact that in using them in most cases a person can place the lips or face in contact with the spout portion of the fountain.

My invention aims to provide an absolutely sanitary fountain; and to accomplish this purpose I Vhave designed a structure wherein it is not possible to bring either the lips or the face into contact with the fountain when using the same.

Accordingly my invention consists in a preferred form, of a guard having upright portions rising on opposite sides of the spout of the fountain and to a point well above the mouth of the spout so as to prevent the mouth of the user from coming into contact with the spout. And preferably this guard also serves as a handle for operating the fountain, in which case the upright portions of the guard terminate in handle or grasping portions to be taken hold of by the user of the fountain.

Another feature of my invention consists in forming these handle portions so that they will be substantially covered by the thumbs of the person using the fountain, in which case the face may rest against the thumbs, but not upon the guard. So that by these means not only is the mouth of the user prevented from contacting with the spout of the fountain, but a persons face is also prevented from coming into contact with any part of the fountain.

Various other objects and features of the invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention but it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation illustrating the manner of using the fountain.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

In its preferred embodiment, the invention consists of what may be termed a guard having upwardly directed portions l rising on opposite sides of the spout 2 of the fountain. These upright portions of the guard extend to a point well above the mouth of the spout and they are spaced relatively close together so as to hold the face of the user away from the spout and prevent the mouth from coming into contact with the spout.

The guard is not limited in its application to any particular form of drinking fountain, and in the present instance I have shown it as applied to a fountain of my own invention, the same consisting of a casing 3 and the depressible spout 2 contained therein. this spout having a mouth or orifice 4t at its upper end. The fountain is provided with a valve 5 for admitting the water thereto, which valve is in this instance operated by the up and down movements of the depressible spout. The guard also preferably serves as the means for operating the valve of the fountain. And for this reason I have shown the same as applied directly to the depressible spout and as having laterally directed handle extensions 6 on the upper ends of the upright portions of the same.

In operating the drinking fountain, the handle portions of the guard are grasped and the spout is depressed to open the valve. These handle portions are so formed as to be substantially covered by the thumbs of the user, so that when the face is lowered to bring the mouth over the oriiice of the spoilt, the face will contact with the thumbs of the user instead of with the guard itself, substantially as indicated in Fig. 2.

To prevent anyone from placing a finger over the mouth of the spout for the purpose of spraying or otherwise mis-using the fountain, I preferably provide an annular guard in the shape of a cup-like member 7 which surrounds the upper end of the spout and is received in the space between the substantially upright sides of the guard. This cup member is preferably provided with an opening 8 for draining the same.

As a convenient means of securing the parts in position, the main guard and the auxiliary guard may be inserted upon the stem of the spout, substantially as shown in Fig. 1. In this case the guard is first placed upon the stern, then the cup member is threaded down upon the guard and finally a lock-nut 9 is screwed down upon the top of the two to securely hold all the parts in position.

I' claim- In a sanitary drinking fountain, a casing, a valve stem constituting a spout and provided with an orifice at its upper end, a guard member threaded on said valve stem and having upwardly extending portions rising to a point well above the spout and spaced relatively close to said spout, an auX- iliary guard comprising a cup-shaped meinber threaded on said stem above the guard member, surrounding the upper end of the spout, and located within the confines ot' the Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.,

Washington, D. C. 

